Contents

Premise

Synopsis

The ghost of Crystal Cove's most famous sheriff, Dead Justice, has come back from his grave to make Sheriff Bronson Stone quit his job by trapping Crystal Cove's top criminals. The gang first encounters him when they are trying to trap the Pirahna-Goat, a masked villain who wants to disrupt the water supply. Both they and the Sheriff fail, but Dead Justice makes the capture. Over the next several days he beats the Sheriff to the arrest of many more criminals.

The Sheriff has won the annual Crimey Awards for several years in a row, and his hero-worshiping Deputy Bucky assures him that he will again, but Mayor Jones instead gives the award to Dead Justice. The ghost appears and says he doesn't care about awards, just about doing a better job than the current incompetent Sheriff.

Sheriff Stone is suspicious of Night Ranger, the author of a blog critical of him, who was present at the award show. The gang agrees to help him investigate. As they drive home in the Mystery Machine, they are threatened and shot at by Dead Justice. The kids see that the "bullets" he uses have grinning cartoon faces.

They visit Sheriff Stone at his home (where he lives with his mother) and ask for historical background on the ghost. He tells them of "Iron Will" Williamson, the first real Sheriff of Crystal Cove, and his enmity with bank robber "Nitro" Wisinksi that lead to both of them dying in a volcano.

They go to the home of the Night Ranger together with the Sheriff to check for clues. They find a few suspicious items like bales of hay (since Dead Justice has a horse), but they find out the body-building Ranger uses them as punching bags. Then the real Dead Justice shows up and threatens them all. They escape when Night Ranger uses his car to pull down one wall of his house.

The Mayor drives up and fires the Sheriff, saying he can get Dead Justice to do a better job for free. Stone is devastated and he reveals his mother gave him the name "Sheriff Bronson Stone" at birth, in anticipation that he would one day hold the job.

The next day, the gang collects the Sheriff's property from his office, from the distressed Deputy Buckner. Velma notices a clue and they go immediately to find Stone, who has taken a job at the Clam Cabin, with a bag over his head to hide his shame. They raise his hopes of capturing the imposter Dead Justice.

Dead Justice runs into the Ghost of Nitro Wisinski (Sheriff Stone in disguise), and he is captured as he tries to get away from him. The culprit is Deputy Buckner, who planned all this to get the Sheriff's job. He used CGI to create his bullets, which is what gave him away to Velma. One of the papers in the files they got from Buckner included cartoon sketches of the bullets.

Fred asks his dad if he is proud of him for solving the mystery, but Mayor Jones says no. Fred and Daphne then go to the Clam Cabin and Fred explains how Daphne is the only one who really understands him. Fred proposes to Daphne, asking if she will ride shotgun with him forever. Daphne accepts, and they kiss. Night Ranger, observing from a distance, gives a gesture of satisfaction and drives away.

Continuity

Notes/trivia

The bullets with faces may be a tribute to Bullet Bill from Nintendo's Super Mario.

When Dead Justice says "Hi ho, Greg!" to his horse, this is a clear reference to The Lone Ranger, who says "Hi Ho! Silver!".

Fred and Daphne share their first kiss in this episode; this is also the first kiss they've had in animated form in the franchise's history. Both live-action incarnations (theatrical and TV) had already kissed.

It is revealed that after graduating from college, Daphne and Fred will marry (in so many words).

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

When Fred was pulling the rope over the Pirahna-Goat to try and trap him the ascot is blue instead of orange.